Wire connection binding clip



April 1955 w. J. ZIEBELL 2,706,804

WIRE CONNECTION BINDING CLIP Filed Sept. 27, 1952 INVENTOR w QISIEM) BY I ATTORNEY United States Patent WIRE CONNECTION BINDING CLIP William J. Ziebell, Branford, Conn., assignor to The A.j C. Gilbert Company, New Haven, Conn., a corporation of Maryland Application September 27, 1952, Serial No. 311,835

' 3 Claims. (Cl. 339-256) This invention relates to conductive binding clips for gripping wires to make electrical connections in a quickly detachable manner without soldering or the use of binding screws.

Spring clips have been proposed for analogous purposes heretofore but they have been space consuming, involving complex bends in complicated shapes of blanks along angularly related lines necessitating elaborate tools for their production. Some have required threading of the end of the attachable wire endwise through an eye or closed opening in the clip, while others have failed to grip the wire with mechanical positiveness or in a way to insure effective electrical contact.-

An object of this invention is to provide a wire gripping clip of far greater simplicity and more efficiently operative in miniature sizes, than any heretofore known.

A contributary object is to make my improved clip out of a simple, continuous and preferably straight-edged strip of electrically conductive, thin, springy, sheet-metal stock bent along parallelly directed lines to such angular shape that separation of edge to edge jaw portions of such clip is yieldingly opposed by other portions of the clip that are resilient, thereby to permit an electric wire to be wedged between the edges of the jaw portions into clinging engagement therewith without causing a permanent set in the resilient portion of the clip by exceeding the elastic limits thereof.

A particular object of the present improvements is to utilize twisting distortion in a flat, leaf spring portion'of the clip to yieldingly oppose the separation of the jaw edges so that only minute and temporary deformation of said leaf spring shall be caused even by relatively wide separation of the jaw edges, wherefore a very small clip is enabled to grip between its jaw edgesbare electric wires of a variety of gages. i

These and other aims and advantages of the present improvements will appear in greater particular from the following description of a successful embodiment of the invention wherein:

Figs. 1 and 2 are different perspective views of my improved solderless binding clip showing a stranded electric wire anchored therein.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the clip.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the clip.

Fig. 5 is an end view of the clip showing its jaws normally closed together.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing the jaws spread open to an exaggerated degree.

Fig. 7 is a view taken in section on the plane 7-7 in Fig. 6, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figs. 8, 9 and are fragmentary views taken in.sec-

tion respectively on the planes 8-8, 9--9 and 1010 in Fig. 7, looking in the direction of the arrows.

It will be apparent from Fig. 3 that a binding clip constructed according to this invention can be made from a continuous straight edged strip of thin, springy, sheet metal stock bent along parallel directed lines to the ogee shape shown in Fig. 4, and split lengthwise midway of its width so as to divide the wire receiving portion of the length of the clip into two jaws 12 and 13, respectively, which are merely component parts of the strip. While the split 14 is herein shown to be a mere slit it can, particularly in larger sizes of the improved clip, constitute a narrow notch than opens through the wire receiving end 15 of the clip and extends to a dead end 16 at the section plane 88 in Fig. 7. While the jaws 12 and 13 are seen in Fig. 4 to possess a hooked or ogee curvature 2,706,804 Patented Apr. 19, 1955 they may be bent to other shapes along parallelly directed lines or they may be straight fiat jaws angularly related to the mounting base portion 17 of the clip.

The mounting base 17 contains a hole 18 for a screw (not shown) which will secure the clip to any flat conductive supporting surface to form a terminal for an electric circuit. The fiat portion of each side of the clip on opposite sides of the split or notch 14 constitutes a flat leaf spring 19 extending from the dead end 16 of the split or notch to the beginning of curvature or point of angular deviation of the jaw from the plane of the mounting base. The leaf spring 19, whether it be integral and homogeneous with the metal of the rest of the clip or whether it be a specially tempered or intervening element connecting the clip jaws 12 and 13 to the mounting base 17, is disposed in such angular relation to the jaws that each of such springs resiliently biases its own jaw edgewise toward the other jaw. Thus twisting distortion of the fiat leaf spring 19 is able yieldably to oppose separation of the adjacent jaw edges 20, 21 with but minute deformation of the leaf spring and without exceeding the elastic limit thereof when an electric wire 22 is forced between the jaw edges into clinging engagement therewith as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

A fiat leaf spring such as 19 when twisted performs its flexure diagonally as is apparent from Figs. 8, 9 and 10. Such flexure is assured of taking place crosswise of the grain of the sheet metal stock and the flexure distributes itself over a larger extent of the area of the leaf spring than would be the case with flexure along straight lines otherwise directed. The twisting nature of the distortion in the flat leaf spring enables a leaf spring 19 of given small size to accommodate a wider separation of jaws 12 and 13 than would otherwise be possible in a clip of given size without exceeding the elastic limit of the spring.

Further details of preferred practice in making my improved clip include the blunt tapering shape of the wire receiving ends 15 of the clip jaws which facilitates the entrance of a bare stranded electric wire in wedging position between the jaws edges 20 and 21. There is also shown a bent-over ear 23 that isadapted to overlap closely the flat side surface of whatever suport the clip base 17 may be attached to by means of a holding screw (not shown) passing through hole 18 thereby to prevent swiveling of the clip about such holding screw.

In making use of my improved clip, its base 17 is secured fixedly to an electrically conductive support by means of a screw, rivet, eyelet or the like aided by the staying engagement of car 23 with a side surface of the support. The bared end portion of an electric wire 22, either solid or stranded, is forced between the adjacent edges 20 and 21 of the clip jaws, which normally may be in mutual contact as shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 and this wedges the jaws apart as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 6 where twisting deformation is caused in and resisted by leaf springs 19 as shown in Figs. 8, 9 and 10. A single one of these two leaf springs may sufiice in some styles of clip. The wire will be gripped firmly and dependably by the jaw edges yet the wire can be forcibly withdrawn wlthout injuring the clip but only when purposely moved n a line of direction that follows the curvature of the aws.

The appended claims are directed to and intended to cover all equivalents and substitutes for the shapes and arrangement of the component parts of the clip as fairly come within the broadest interpretation of the wording of the :l aims.

I claim:

1. A conductive binding clip for gripping electric wires of differing sizes in a quick detachable manner, comprising a substantially straight elongate thinnish strip of resilient metal formed permanently into a return bend having one free end and having an end portion at the opposite side of said bend comprising in part a mounting base continuous with said bend, said strip having a continuous slit opening through said free end and extending therefrom longitudinally of the strip throughout said return bend well into and along said mounting base in a manner to divide the latter into independently twistable individual partial widths of said strip contiguous to said mounting base.

2. A conductive binding clip as defined in claim 1, in which the said end portion including said mounting base is fiat.

3. A conductive binding clip as defined in claim 1, in which the said free end and the said return bend conform to an ogee curve.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

